Sharon Freundel
Community
Community
December 27, 2018 by
In this parasha, Bnei Yisrael become slaves to Paro; Paro’s daughter saves Moshe from the Nile and, after killing an Egyptian taskmaster, Moshe flees to Midian where he marries and has children; Hashem instructs Moshe to liberate the people; Moshe returns to Egypt, and Moshe and Aharon approach Paro, who refuses their request for liberation. […]
December 18, 2018 by
In this parasha, Yaakov blesses his sons on his deathbed and asks them to bury him in Cana’an. Vayechi is the last parasha in Sefer Bereshit, the Book of Genesis. The Book began with universal themes of the creation of the human being, corruption, destruction, and renewal. It then narrowed its focus and centered on […]
December 11, 2018 by
In this parasha, Yosef reveals his identity to his brothers, prompting the entire family to move to Egypt, where Yosef reunites with his father, Yaakov. Why did God arrange for the Israelites to end up in Egypt? In Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:20, the text refer to Egypt as “cur habarzel” (an iron furnace). This description of Egypt as […]
December 4, 2018 by
In this parasha, Yosef interprets Pharaoh’s dreams and is appointed to implement Egypt’s anti-famine plan. This brings him into contact with his brothers again, as they come to Egypt to buy food. It is remarkable how much of the Torah and how much of our lives revolve around food. The first human sin, that of […]
November 26, 2018 by
In this parasha, Yosef’s dreams anger his brothers, and they sell him into slavery in Egypt, where he eventually ends up in prison interpreting others’ dreams. Most of us are familiar with the story of Yosef and his brothers, his journey to Egypt, his run-in with Potiphar, and his interactions in prison with the baker […]
November 19, 2018 by
In this parasha, Yaakov confronts Eisav, wrestles with a “man” who blesses him by changing his name to Yisrael, loses his wife Rachel in childbirth, and experiences the trauma of the incident with his daughter Deena. The Torah and the rabbis place great import on the meaning of a name. We first learn of the […]
November 13, 2018 by
In this parasha, Yaakov flees to his uncle Lavan’s household and lives there for several years, marrying Lavan’s daughters, Leah and Rachel, and establishing a large family. This is the beginning of a section of the Torah about which we can quote Bible scholar Andrew Lloyd Weber: “Strange as it seems, there’s been a run […]
November 6, 2018 by
In this parasha, Rivka gives birth to twins, Esav and Yaakov, who struggle with each other, and Yaakov engages in bargaining and deception to obtain the birthright and Yitzchak’s blessing. The word sadeh (field) appears four times in the two chapters of this parasha that deal with the relationships in the Jacobite family. It occurs […]
October 31, 2018 by
In this parasha, Sarah dies. Avraham buys the burial plot of M’arat HaMachpelah and buries Sarah. He then sends his servant, Eliezer, to the ancestral home to find a wife for Yitzchak. The second verse of the parasha tells us of Sarah’s death: “Sarah died in Kiryat Arba which is Hevron in the land of […]
